


Emboss

by ohmyflavors (hannibae)



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 22:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8345392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannibae/pseuds/ohmyflavors
Summary: They’ve been walking for a while, getting a little bit lost in the process, and Link just won’t shut up. He can’t get his bearings straight with him going on and on like he is about whatever it is they were talking about. 
He’s not worried. 
But he really wants to get home before it gets too dark out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the "a confession under the full moon" prompt for the Rhink Fall Ficathon!

“Listen, I’m not saying that it makes sense, man,” Link is saying, and Rhett lets the rest of his sentence get lost in the rustling of the leaves they walk through.

They’ve been walking for a while, getting a little bit lost in the process, and Link just won’t shut up. He can’t get his bearings straight with him going on and on like he is about whatever it is they were talking about.

He’s not worried.

But he really wants to get home before it gets too dark out.

Right now, the sky is pink and orange and the clouds are dark. The cicadas are chirping, and Link is still talking.

Annoyance creeps into his fists, making his hands shake, making the adrenaline pump through him a little faster.

“Are you even listening to me?” Link asks, thumping Rhett on the shoulder with the back of his hand. With a sigh, he stops hard, letting Link crash into him. “What the heck, man?”

“We’re lost,” he says, bending down to pick up a stick he sees laying on the ground. He figures, if anything, having something to swat at spider webs will give him a little bit of comfort.

“What? No, we’re not,” Link insists, but Rhett catches the panic already in his voice. It’s subtle, but he doesn’t have to search far for it.

“We are.”

Link spends the next ten minutes telling him there’s no way they’re lost, man, it was a straight shot through the woods, and they didn’t take a single turn, he’s sure of it. Rhett just shrugs his shoulders, says over and over that if Link wasn’t talking so much then they could have paid better attention to their surroundings. But, Link insists, they’re not lost, so Rhett can stop being a jerk anytime he wants.

Rhett says, “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

By the time Link starts agreeing with him, having taken the lead after insisting Rhett must just be confused, it’s dark outside. Rhett can hardly see the outlines of his fingers, it’s so dark. His eyes keep trying to adjust, but they never do.

It’s a full moon out, so a staccato of light filters through the trees every ten steps or so, but the ground below them starts singing, and the trees loom over them menacingly full of life. And Rhett feels threatened, like an animal in the wild.

The hair on the back of his neck stands up, and Link is still talking. This time, he listens, because if anything, it might distract him from the fear starting to creep into him.

Except he catches, “Man, people die in the woods all the time. My mom is gonna kill me if I die.”

“Dude, would you shut up for like, ten seconds? And that was the stupidest thing you’ve ever said, which is saying something,” Rhett tells him, hitting the back of Link’s calf with the stick he found earlier.

Link kicks his leg back, only barely making contact with Rhett, and says, “You know what I meant.”

He doesn’t, really. They aren’t going to die here. It’s not like they’re in some huge forest. They’re in the freaking woods behind the Johnson’s house, a mile away from Rhett’s backyard. Eventually, they’re going to make it back to Rhett’s house, or somewhere else familiar.

When he tells this to Link, all he gets is a grumbled agreement in response, and Link is finally quiet after.

They walk for what feels like a hundred miles, but is probably less than half a mile, and Link stays quiet the whole time. All Rhett can hear is the proverbial talking-to he’s going to get from his father playing on loop in his brain.

It dawns on him, after about ten minutes, why Link is being quiet, and why, when Rhett asks him a question, all he gets is a noncommittal shrug in lieu of an answer.

“It’s okay if you’re scared, you know,” he tells Link, and watches his eyebrows furrow. He gets turned away from, and pulling the leaves off the branches is suddenly a lot more important. “I am.”

“Yeah, right,” Link says. There’s a scoff that doesn’t quite make it out of his throat, but Rhett still hears it anyway.

He tells him, “Fine. Don’t believe me. But we’re lost in the woods, man. Anyone would be scared. Doesn’t mean I don’t think we’re gonna be alright.”

Link stops in his tracks, so Rhett turns to look at him. For just a second, Rhett thinks Link might actually punch him. He doesn’t, though. Instead, he throws the handful of leaves he’s collected in his annoyance, and looks Rhett in the eyes.

“Man, stop being such a jerk!” Link tells him, and it’s the first time in a long time he’s heard Link raise his voice quite like this. “You ain’t scared of anything, so quit making fun of me like this.”

Rhett, insanely, feels like laughing. “Brother, I know I said what you said earlier was the stupidest thing you’ve ever said, but I lied. _That_ was the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”

Before he gets anything else out, Link is charging towards him. The impact hurts more than Rhett anticipated, Link’s lanky body crashing into his own not exactly something he anticipated, especially happening so abruptly.

And when they land on the soggy, damp soil below their feet, the wind is knocked out of him.

Again, he finds himself wanting to laugh. So this time he does, throwing his head back and letting it out, hearing the hysteria ringing through the night. Link is still scrambling to sit upright, arms slipping in the mud. Everything sort of comes to a point, and the night fades into the beams of moonlight through the branches of the trees, his own laughter echoing around them both, and Link’s elbow digging into his ribs while he rights himself. Nothing else matters anymore. The fear of being lost, the confusion, the annoyance at Link’s incessant talking—all of it leaves his brain and is replaced with this odd sense of elation.

He can’t stop laughing.

Link says, “I hate you.”

But he’s laughing, too. Rhett can hear it, weaving itself into the syllables of the words he’s saying. He can see the moon from where they are on the ground, the whole of it, bright and silver and mocking them. This entire time, the moon has been mocking them for being so lost, being right there up in the sky, watching them wander and offering no help whatsoever.

“Hey,” he says, clearing his throat around the thick laughter still stuck there. When he moves his head, he can feel the slick mud getting caught in his hair.

Link goes to move, but for some reason, Rhett’s instinct is to get his arms around him, tighten them up so he can’t move. In protest, Link shouts something at him, but it gets lost in the trees.

From here, he can tell how pretty Link is. Handsome, really is a better word, and Link would insist as much. But, really, he’s very _pretty_. That cupid’s bow, the masculine lines of his face, his defined jaw, the bright blue of his eyes—all of it, really. How he’s never noticed until now, he doesn’t know.  

“Why’re you staring at me?”

“Hey, remember how you said I ain’t scared of anything?” Rhett is asking, before his brain really catches up with what he’s saying. “Well, I’m scared as all hell of doing this.”

And he catches the sweet, shocked gasp Link lets out with his own mouth.

He expects, immediately, for Link to jerk away, get as far away from him as he possibly can. Instead, those soft, plush lips stay on his, press to him just a little firmer. They’re tentative, nervous, and Rhett tastes the cider they were drinking earlier.

He tastes sweat, fear, and underneath it all, Link. And Link tastes like peanut butter sandwiches and soda.

And when he opens his mouth, lets Rhett lick inside, the shaky moan he lets out tastes like pillow forts and comic books. His fingers digging into Rhett’s forearms feel like sitting cross-legged on the talking rock.

Rhett, briefly, catches on that he’s getting hard. He’s not sure which one of them initiates the movement, but he finds himself whispering, “ _Shit_ , Link,” into his best friend’s mouth, and canting his hips up for more.

It’s all gone after a second, and Link will tell him later that he heard something moving around them, got spooked enough to stop everything.

But for now, he’s left on the ground, Link lying next to him, both of them covered in mud and panting.

“That was weird,” Link says, and there’s more laughter building in Rhett’s chest. It doesn’t escape this time. Instead, his hand snakes out and finds Link’s muddy one, tangling their fingers together.

“Yeah,” Rhett agrees. “Know what else I’m scared of, bo?”

“What?”

He gives Link’s hand a squeeze. “How much I love you.” He feels a weight come off of him, as though the trees will carry his burden for him now. Link’s hand tightens around his own, and there’s the scrape of a rock against the back when he stands up, pulling Rhett with him.

“You don’t have to be scared about that,” Link promises. “We should find our way outta here, now that you’re done bein’ a jerk and all.”

Rhett chuckles just a little bit at that.

Once they’re both on their feet, swiping at mud and leaves and sticks, Link says, “I love you, too, you know?”

“Yeah,” Rhett says, because he does know.

The moon will keep their secrets, he knows. The crickets won’t sing about their love or what they did tonight, but they’ll sing all night long. And when the sun rises, when the crickets have stopped singing, Rhett will still love Link.

He’ll still be scared of it.

And Link—

Well, Link looks back at him and says, “Hold my hand til we get home?”

He nods his head, but asks with a grin, “What, are you scared?”

There’s a pause, but Link turns to him, smile a lot brighter than the full moon, and tells him, “Yeah.”


End file.
